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Kazakhstan´s Air Astana Group, which includes Air Astana and its LCC subsidiary FlyArystan, wants to build out its fleet to 63 aircraft by the end of 2025 and extends guidance to 84 aircraft by the end of 2029.
The industry continues to be adversely impacted by supply chain challenges arising from OEMs, including the impact of contaminated powdered metal problems of Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines, Air Astana indicates in its fourth quarter (Q4) 2024 earnings report.
“The P&W1100 issue has become a sort of chronic illness with which we have had to learn to live,” Peter Foster, Air Astana president and CEO, told Aviation Week in an earlier interview. “We continue to proactively manage the fleet and add capacity in line with our growth strategy,” Foster said.
A dedicated Pratt mitigation plan, which took early action to rest engines in the low seasons, has secured additional aircraft and spare engine capacity for Air Astana. The group performed 93 geared turbofan (GTF) engine replacements in 2024. This ensured high fleet utilization during peak season and reduced the impact on overall performance.
In addition, the group has a total of 13 spare engines supporting its Airbus A320neo family fleet. The engine-off wing time assumption for this issue remains 18 months. Although the group is now being delivered completely fault-free engines from Pratt, the issue is expected to persist and require proactive mitigating actions for the foreseeable future.
Air Astana took delivery of five aircraft in 2024, expanding its fleet to 34. LCC FlyArystan also took delivery of five aircraft in 2024, expanding its fleet to 23, which further increased to 25 in early 2025. FlyArystan’s newest arrivals were exclusively A320-family aircraft.
Air Astana expects delivery of an additional A320ceo aircraft in the first quarter of this year. As part of the group’s fleet simplification strategy, three of its five Embraer E190-E2s have been redelivered ahead of schedule. All Embraer pilots have converted to Airbus cockpits in preparation for the final phase-out of the Embraer fleet.
Technicians installed a third additional center tank (ACT) fuel tank on Air Astana´s A321LR at its own technical facilities, widening network capabilities and bringing new destinations within the extended range of the narrowbody aircraft. By adding a third ACT to the A321LR, Air Astana can achieve a 300–350 nm full payload range increase.
The group is making plans for the construction of new hangars in Almaty and Astana, expanding maintenance capacity across the group’s two main hubs. Construction of the expanded facilities is expected to commence in 2025-26. The group is extending its Flight Training Center (FTC) with the addition of a second A320 full-flight simulator (FFS). Delivered in February, the FFS is on track to be commissioned by the end of this year, adding capacity for external pilot training.
During Q4 2024, Air Astana Group revenue increased 14.3% year-over-year to $312.1 million. Adjusted Ebitda grew faster than capacity, increasing 39.6% to $71.2 million, compared to the year-ago figure of $51 million.
Also in Q4 2024, the group’s available seat kilometers increased 5.8% from the year-ago 4.5 billion to 4.7 billion. For full-year 2024, the group added nearly 1 million passengers for a total of 9 million with an increasing load factor. Air Astana Group cites growing demand for air travel across Kazakhstan, its extended home market and nearby megamarkets for the gains.
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